Key Takeaways

• The film outlines how personal grief and substance use affected Lamar Odom’s NBA career and public image.
• It recounts the 2006 death of his infant son Jayden and the 2015 overdose that left him hospitalized in Nevada.
• Khloé Kardashian, Liza Morales, and Odom’s children describe how addiction strained family relationships and complicated recovery.

Lamar Odom was already a two-time NBA champion, NBA Sixth Man of the Year, and one of basketball’s most versatile forwards before the darkest parts of his life became public. At 6’10”, he built a reputation as a uniquely skilled player who could handle the ball, score, rebound, and impact games. Untold: The Death & Life of Lamar Odom tracks that rise, then follows the grief, addiction, infidelity, and medical crisis that reshaped his life behind the scenes and in public.

Beyond old headlines, Lamar spoke directly about his drug use and the damage done during his marriage to Khloé Kardashian. The film also included accounts from the likes of Khloé, Liza Morales, and Lamar’s children, Destiny Odom and Lamar Odom Jr., all of whom described what those years looked like from their vantage points. Together, their stories laid out the damage and how close Lamar came to not making it out alive.

Addiction is a chronic, treatable disease. However, one of the most destructive realities when it comes to addiction is that it can take hold in ways that are hard to control -- even when the consequences are obvious. Here are some of the film’s most shocking revelations. Above all, we’re rooting for Lamar’s peace and continued healing.

1. Thinking his son was asleep for the night, Lamar recalls being out partying when his son Jayden passed away from SIDS

In the documentary, Lamar revealed that he was out partying all night when Jayden, his infant son with Liza Morales, died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in 2006. Morales was the one who found Jayden unresponsive the next morning. Lamar ties that loss directly to the spiral that followed, and the film treats it as one of the clearest breaking points in his life. “They say that [when] people go through that, [it] either brings them together and makes them extremely strong,” he expressed before continuing, “or it [breaks] them apart.”

2. Lamar’s kids traveled to join him for a Lakers parade, but no one answered his door when they knocked... A friend later explained he was in no shape to see them

Morales said the kids missed school so they could go to the Lakers’ 2010 championship parade with Lamar. When they got to his place, they knocked on the door and got no answer. Destiny remembered, “We were knocking on the door, and there was nothing. It was just silence.” Morales says a friend later picked up Lamar’s phone and told her he had been partying the night before and “doesn’t want the kids to see him like this.” Lamar still went to the parade, and the kids watched him on TV instead. “They were so devastated,” Morales stated.

3. A woman Lamar was sleeping with called Khloé and told her to come get her “f**ked up” husband

Infidelity was a major issue during Lamar’s marriage to Khloé Kardashian. In the documentary, she revealed that one of the women Lamar was seeing called her directly and said, “Hi, I’ve been f**king your husband.” She then told Khloé he was “so f**ked up” and asked, “Will you come pick him up?” Lamar recalled being so high in Big Bear that the woman he was with must have taken his phone and made the call herself. According to Khloé, the woman in question also admitted to contacting her mother, who paid a visit to Lamar in response. “I can remember me taking a big line of cocaine,” he recalled, “and all I hear is, ‘Lammy!’ And I see Kris Jenner’s face come around the doorway.”

4. Khloé cleaned Lamar’s hotel rooms, so housekeeping couldn’t sell drug stories

Khloé explained how Lamar would disappear for “12 hours or two days,” leave rehab, and go on drug binges that sent her searching through alleys and motels. “He would have tinfoil cutouts or spoons... freebasing things and leaving things everywhere. I remember needing to go to hotel rooms to clean up after him, so the housekeeping didn’t sell the story,” she explained. “I was an enabler without knowing I was an enabler. I just felt such a responsibility to cover this up, hold it together, and protect him.”

5. Lamar spent Christmas locked in a hotel bathroom for four days “just doing drugs”

According to Khloé, Lamar spent four days in a hotel bathroom over Christmas “just doing drugs.” She stated this happened after his trade from the Lakers to the Dallas Mavericks, when she says his addiction became “monstrous.” She also said, “I’ve never seen so many drugs, such a dark aura around us.” He didn’t stay with the Mavs for long; he ended up back with the LA Clippers during the summer of 2012. Lamar called the period “the most embarrassing time of my athletic career.”

6. Khloé secretly pumped Lamar’s stomach after earlier overdoses

The Nevada overdose was not the first time Lamar nearly died. In the documentary, Khloé revealed, “He overdosed a few times, I had to pump his stomach — all privately.” She also said they used at-home detox centers during the marriage. “We did everything we could,” Khloé stated. An intervention scare (vague – what happened here, do we remember?) led to an initial divorce filing just prior to Lamar’s 2015 overdose.

7. Lamar’s dad allegedly tried to take him off life support but left after asking for Nikes, $100, and a hotel room

Khloé explained how Lamar’s father, Joe Odom, got to the hospital before she did after the highly publicized 2015 overdose and allegedly wanted to pull the proverbial plug on his son. She recalled him saying, “Don’t put him on life support. Turn those machines off.” After putting a halt to that decision (she was still legally married to Lamar and was able to take over the decision-making), Joe then asked for “a pair of Nikes and $100, and a hotel room for the night,” according to Khloé, who also said once he got what he wanted, “Joe left and never came back.”

8. Drug dealers apparently came to the hospital and went through Lamar’s bags for payment while he was on his deathbed

Khloé initially allowed visitors into Lamar’s hospital room after the 2015 overdose, then changed course when she realized some people were not there to support him. As she put it, “I had filters on who I would let into the hospital. That’s very true. At the very beginning, I would let people come in, and then I found out, like, three of them were drug dealers that wanted to collect money, rummaging through his personal bags.” She says that is when she shut everything down: “We’re on lockdown.” This created a conflict with Morales and Lamar’s children, who spoke about temporary difficulties visiting the NBA great due to Khloé’s security and law enforcement.

9. After 12 strokes and six heart attacks, Lamar had to learn how to live all over again

The film got specific about how brutal the recovery was once Lamar survived his 2015 overdose. “I had 12 strokes and six heart attacks. That’s not no average s**t,” he stated. “When I woke up [from my coma], I couldn’t hold my bowels... Can’t walk, can’t talk. They come in to check my diaper.” Notably, Khloé spoke on remaining at the hospital for four months to provide needed support during Lamar’s recovery. “[His] determination that’s just rooted in his body is what got him to being where he is,” she said. “He did learn how to walk again at Cedars, and that was really special.”

10. Lamar survived the 2015 overdose — then Khloé says she found him smoking crack

After spending months helping Lamar recover, Khloé says she stopped by the house she arranged for him and immediately smelled drugs. “Once you know the smell of crack, it’s the most identifiable, disgusting smell,” she expressed. She walked upstairs and states she found him “smoking crack” in the bedroom. Khloé says she hit him and told him, “I just put my life on hold to f**king take care of you.” The couple would subsequently finalize their divorce in 2016.

11. Lamar suffered severe memory loss and cannot remember parts of his life because of his addiction

Throughout his post-NBA career, both Lamar and Khloé have been vocal about his severe memory loss, the result of the NBA champion’s prolonged drug use. In the documentary, he was asked if he recalled attending his second championship parade with the Lakers without Destiny and Lamar Jr. “Can’t say I do,” Lamar admitted in response. “I’m pretty sure there’s a lot more stories I can’t really remember because of where I was at, at that time of my life.”